Astronomy Tidbit: Galaxies, consisting of millions or billions of stars, sometimes merge with each other to form larger galaxies. The photo is a case where 4 galaxies are in the process of merging. Note: there are many other galaxies in the picture that appear smaller because these are much further away.
Also, if our own Milky Way galaxy of 100 billion stars where to collide with another comparable galaxy only one or two stars would actually collide. The space between the stars is so large that most stars past straight through without hitting another.
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Feel free to reply to any comment by clicking the "Reply" button.Awesome stuff..the Amdromeda and Miky Way gallaxies will totally merge within the next several million years..and cosmologist have detected evidence that the merger may have already started..it is approximately 2.7 Mly distant and contains 1 trillion stars..as of 5 days ago new measurements that it is approximately the same size as the Milky Way.
As an aside our galaxy is in the process of consuming the Greater and Lesser Magellanic clouds..
Charlene
Level 9
Feb 19, 2018
0
@astrochuck thanks for corrections..much appreciated????
Not if, but when. The Andromeda and the Milky Way are on path to converge.
NothinnXpreVails
Level 8
Feb 19, 2018
0
The universe is vast. Detectable matter takes up such a tiny fraction of the whole. Even at the atomic level space is vast comparable to the particles held together in bundles we call atoms. Our world seems so full and yet so empty. Could there be undetectable other universes tucked inside our own interlaced in the vast emptiness?
Dwight
Level 7
Feb 18, 2018
0
@astrochuck Maybe so. In order for the interlaced universes to coexist in a multiverse there would need to be some kind of boundary awareness to prevent one universe from impinging on another universe. Detecting such an awareness in our own universe would allow us to infer the existence of one or more other universes without having to detect another universe.
Our own Milky Way Galaxy will collide with the Andromeda Galaxy in the very distant future.
Paul628
Level 8
Feb 18, 2018
3
@astrochuck What will happen to heaven then? Will it burn up too? 
@astrochuck Thanks for the info, but I'm a bit of a cosmos nerd myself. I can't get enough of documentaries about the subject of the universe.
Are you sure that's only four galaxies? I see at least four... actually, it's easy to count five and ponder what the bright 'tail' of the bottom right galaxy is... could it be a lesser galaxy being swallowed up by the rest of that lower right galaxy?
The above statement is proof that you should read through completely before letting your curiousity lead you to a) look at the picture and b) comment about same. 
That said, I am referring to the 5 galaxies that appear to be at the same 'level' in the picture, ie: not farther back (though my eyes may not be able to make such an interpretation.
Also, what about the central black holes of these four galaxies? What happens with them?
Gnarloc
Level 7
Feb 18, 2018
0
@astrochuck so the faint little guy on the far right is a part of this dance? Cool!
@astrochuck Very cool! Thanks!
What I wouldn't do to see the math...
What will happen to the stars that collide?
Lysistrata
Level 7
Feb 18, 2018
0
Boom!
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